When Diego wakes up the next morning, he's greeted by Hot Pants tossing him a bottle of water and a granola bar. He catches the water, barely, but the granola bar hits him on the cheek.
"Morning," Hot Pants says. "You missed the sunrise. It was beautiful." The sky is indeed already a soft, baby blue, the sun hanging above the mountains. Diego's grateful for the shade of the rocks around them; the air is warming up, and he struggles off the turtleneck sweater he'd worn to sleep.
"Morning," he replies, blinking blearily. "What time is it?"
"Eight," she says. "I hiked out a bit this morning in the opposite direction of where we went yesterday. I found these." She reaches into the left pocket of her shorts and drops a handful of bullet casing on the ground. Diego squints at them.
"Should we be afraid?" he asks.
"I think people sometimes just go out into the desert to shoot guns," Hot Pants says, shrugging. "I don't think it's legal, but I guess it happens anyway."
Diego hums and picks up one of them. It's longer than his index finger.
"What exactly are they shooting out there with these?"
"I don't know, dinosaurs?"
Diego rolls his eyes, stretches, and yawns.
"When are we heading out?" he asks, ripping open the granola bar wrapper and taking a bite of breakfast. He has a feeling granola bars are going to get really old really quickly, so he enjoys the flavor while he still can.
"Nine or so? We've got about 400 kilometers to the next site I want to visit, but I figure we'll be stopping at places along the way too. I'm not too sure what Gyro and Johnny are planning."
"Do you think they're going to wake up on time?" Diego asks, gesturing at them. Their sleeping bags are pushed close to each other and both are snoring, Gyro much less gently so than Johnny. Diego picks up a small rock and tosses it into the air a few times to get a feel for its weight, eyeing the lump he identifies as Johnny. A single disapproving look from Hot Pants is enough to make him drop it sheepishly.
"Need help with anything?" he asks, removing himself from the too-warm confines of the sleeping bag and shoving the empty wrapper into his pocket. He opens the water bottle and takes several large gulps, suddenly keenly aware of how dry his mouth is.
"Just get your stuff packed up and put away," she replies, throwing the car keys to him. He follows her instructions, rolling up the sleeping bag and dusting it off as best as he as can before shoving it into the trunk. The turtleneck he tosses onto the passenger's seat, intending to claim the spot when they leave.
They sit next to each other for the following half hour or so cataloging their findings from the day before and from Hot Pants' morning hike. Diego carefully measures everything, describing each object's characteristics while Hot Pants records the information in her lab notebook in meticulous handwriting. They bag up the few samples they want to take back that are legal to bring across state borders and snap a couple of photos of the rest with the cheap camera the university had loaned them. Diego hesitates, then takes a pictures of Johnny and Gyro sleeping with his cell phone as well.
"Blackmail," he explains when Hot Pants gives him a quizzical look.
"How long have you known each other?" she asks, carefully sliding her notebook back into her backpack.
"Uh, a couple of years," Diego replies, taken aback by her sudden interest in his private life. He wouldn't say she's been distant, especially after she'd agreed to be his mentor for this summer project, but in the year they'd known each other she'd never asked him much beyond his research interests. "He transferred to my high school halfway through sophomore year. I think he got kicked out of his old school."
"Was this in America or Britain? I thought he was American."
"America. I got adopted a while before that by an American family. They're actually related to Johnny, but the family tree's hard to follow and I don't know exactly what we're supposed to be. Probably some sort of cousins."
Hot Pants nods thoughtfully. "Gyro and I met at the international students' orientation. We liked the same beer and got a little too drunk. He's a good guy. I'm glad he agreed to mentor Johnny." She nudges him and smiles. "We're going to have a fun summer." Diego smiles back, hoping that if he's blushing at all Hot Pants will just attribute it to the heat of the desert.
Her phone starts buzzing and dinging at that point, breaking them out of the moment.
"And now it's time for everyone to wake up," she declares, standing and retrieving the pot and soup ladle from the night before. Gyro had wiped everything down with some napkins, but both are still coated with an oily sheen and in need of an actual wash. Hot Pants bangs the ladle against the side of the pot as she walks over to the two sleepers.
"Wake up guys, it's time to hit the road," she shouts. She repeats herself a few times, circling the two of them like a loud bird of prey. Johnny wiggles further into his sleeping bag while Gyro bolts upright like a startled rabbit, Mr. Bear falling onto the ground as he does so.
"Ugh, what time is it?" Gyro asks, looking around for Mr. Bear. He finds the teddy bear and dusts it off stowing it safely away once it's as clean as it'll be.
"8:40. We should head out soon." She stops next to Johnny, bends down, and unzips the entire sleeping bag in one fell swoop, throwing it open to the outside world. Johnny screeches at the sudden light and curls up into a small ball.
"Rise and shine kiddo. Get packed up; we're heading out in twenty minutes."
Johnny finally sits up reluctantly, his hair a mess.
"Coffee?" he mumbles, shrugging off his jacket.
"I didn't make any," Hot Pants replies. "You're free to make some if you can finish on time. There's a bit of water still left in the jug we opened yesterday, and the instant coffee is somewhere in the car. The fire's completely put out, though. Will cold coffee do?"
Johnny takes some time to process the information being thrown at him then seems to reach the inevitable conclusion that coffee will be too hard to make without coffee already in his system. Gyro looks equally put out.
« Can we stop somewhere before I take my turn driving? » he asks. Hot Pants' expression has exactly zero percent surprise in it.
« We can, » she says, « but you should just stick to later shifts next time. » Gyro nods, thoroughly embarrassed.
« Thanks. I owe you one. »
They head out around 9:15, Hot Pants carefully maneuvering the car through the archway. The radio isn't able to pick up anything this far into the desert, so Diego, who successfully defended his claim to shotgun, hooks his phone up to the audio system. Johnny, of course, complains about his taste in music, to which Diego responds by, of course, turning it up louder. Gyro somehow manages to sleep through all this, his face smushed against the window and a stray lock of hair fluttering back and forth in front of his mouth.
A while after they reach the paved road, they finally get to the outskirts of the nearest town.
"I don't know what they have around here, but do you have any preferences?" Hot Pants asks, slowing down. They pass by a Del Taco.
"How about a local shop?" Johnny suggests nudging Gyro awake. Hot Pants nods and parks at the first mom and pop diner she sees. It's a nice, cozy establishment, aggressively decorated to maximize hominess. The selection it offers is small, but the air in the building smells absolutely heavenly to Gyro and Johnny, who immediately rush up to the counter and scan the menu for their favorite kinds of bean juice.
Hot Pants gets them a table in the corner and is joined shortly after by Diego, who ordered himself a plate of bacon despite having already eaten. Gyro and Johnny linger by the counter waiting for the orders and chatting with the owners of the establishment. Or, at least Gyro chats with them. Johnny mostly hovers behind him with a frown.
After they retrieve the orders and bring everything to the table, they get to work hashing out the plans for the day. The site Hot Pants wants to visit is buried deep in the middle of the state and there are a couple of small detours Gyro wants to make along the way, so they try and find the most efficient route to hit them all. Gyro has to give up a spot to make sure they reach their final destination with enough daytime left to do anything.
They load themselves into the car in the same configuration as before, Gyro having conceded to his lack of morning personness and promising to drive the afternoon shift instead. Hot Pants finds a classic rock channel and sings along with Diego. Neither of them is particularly good, but that doesn't deter their enthusiasm or volume.
"Is everything ok?" Gyro asks Johnny, who hasn't heckled Diego even once about the singing. "You seem quieter than usual."
Johnny shrugs. "I'm kinda tired. I didn't sleep too great yesterday, and my back hurts. I really hope we stay at an actual hotel tonight." He pauses for a second then snorts. "Also, that lady at the diner was trying so hard not to stare at me. I could see her looking at my crutches out of the corner of her eye the entire time you were talking to her."
"Oh," Gyro says, brows furrowed. "I hadn't noticed. Sorry, that must suck."
"I guess people in my class got used to me after two years in college together, so I almost forgot people stare and act weird around me. At least she didn't try to tell me what an inspiration I am for being alive." He puts on a gruff voice. "Wow, I can't believe someone like you can shop for groceries by yourself. I'm so inspired by your wheelchair and family-sized bag of potato chips." He switches back to his normal voice. "That's literally a thing that happened once."
Gyro laughs dryly. "I can imagine that would become annoying very quickly. What did you say to that person?"
"I told him I couldn't believe he could go shopping by himself with no hair and that I'd remember him fondly as a source of inspiration when I go bald in my eighties. He backpedaled so quickly. I can still see the absolutely horrified expression on his face." He does an impression, eyes and mouth open wide in shock, the faint hint of a vein popping out on his forehead.
They share a chuckle, then "Bohemian Rhapsody" comes on and Johnny joins Diego and Hot Pants in belting out slightly off-tune notes. Hot Pants takes the lead during the second half and the two guys provide the chorus, their falsettos not quite hitting the highest notes.
"Do you not know this song, or are you embarrassed by your singing or something?" Johnny asks Gyro when they finish and Diego and Hot Pants start on the next song. Gyro reddens a little.
"I don't listen to many older English songs," he confesses.
"Oh, I didn't mean it like a bad thing. What do you listen to then?"
"Mostly I use those websites that play things based on what you tell them you like. I don't really know what genre the music is. You should recommend me some songs. You guys look like you're having a fun time; it'd be nice to join in next time."
"I actually don't usually listen to classic rock, but everyone knows 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' Here's another popular one," he says, holding his phone and earbuds out to Gyro. Gyro accepts them, then offers one of the earbuds back to him.
For the next hour of the drive, Johnny takes Gyro on an overview of his top must-know songs, Gyro following along with the lyrics on his own phone. Diego and Hot Pants continue singing to the radio, giggling at how bad they collectively sound.
Hot Pants finally pulls off the highway just as Johnny thinks his bladder is reaching its upper limit. There doesn't seem to be anything special about this exit. The surrounding landscape is all flat, golden-brown dirt and dust, crops and fruit trees spanning the distance in orderly rows. The buildings immediately off the exit are the usual suspects – fast food chains, three gas stations, and a serviceable motel.
"What exactly is supposed to be here?" Diego asks, peering out the window. The street names are unassuming: Main Street, First Avenue, Bear Claw Mountain Drive.
"There's a small zoo I found," Gyro says. He elaborates when Diego shoots him a confused look. "It mostly only houses native species, but they have a good model of captive animal care. I thought it would be a good place to start with Johnny's project."
"Wait, is your project just to go visit zoos and look at animals?" Diego asks, twisting around to look at Johnny. Johnny scowls.
"Is yours just to hike around and pick up trash?"
"Fine, don't tell me." Diego turns back around and crosses his arms.
"Johnny's studying behavioral changes in animals that have suffered traumatic injuries," Gyro interjects, catching Hot Pants' eye in the rearview mirror with a slightly pained expression. We need to talk about this later, it says. "What about you?"
Diego scrunches his eyebrows together, sulking, but replies. "I'm not picking up trash. I'm looking for cool things around hiking trails and mapping the distribution of stuff. Like fossils."
"That's very cool!" Gyro says too enthusiastically after a few seconds of sullen silence from Johnny and Diego both. His tone of voice pleads for backup form Hot Pants, who does her best to oblige.
"We're uh, we're about five minutes away from the zoo, so if you want to bring anything along you should get your stuff together," she says. Everyone eagerly seizes the opportunity to do anything else but stew in the dregs of the latest spat.
The main entrance to the zoo is about as impressive as Johnny expected, which is to say not very but decent for its size. The decorations are mostly cheesy cartoon representations of various critters, some with speech bubbles containing welcome messages or friendly reminders of bad zoo manners not to have, thank you very much.
Gyro goes up to the ticket window, and Johnny, having finally had a chance to pee, takes the opportunity to observe the surroundings as Diego and Hot Pants starting discussing their project. There are a few other tourists around, and as he looks closer he notices they seem to be either families with small children or people around their age with older, responsible-looking chaperones with them.
"What do you make of them?" Johnny asks Gyro after he returns and motions for them to follow. He gestures toward the latter groups.
"Oh. They're probably research groups. There's a lab nearby. Well, not nearby, but reasonably close. This place gets a decent amount of federal funding and has partnerships with a couple of universities in the state. That's part of why I picked here to visit."
When they get to the gate, there's a woman waiting for them who introduces herself as one of the zookeepers.
"I'll be your guide today," she says. "Feel free to ask me any questions about our facilities or about the animals themselves. I work with the small mammals, but I can answer general questions about other animals or direct you to the relevant staff."
They follow her in, and she takes them through the public areas first, pointing out various features of the enclosures and explaining the tweaks the zoo has made over the years as understanding of animal needs has increased. Johnny asks questions at almost every exhibit, scribbling furiously in his notebook. A few of their fellow visitors trail after them at various points, listening in on the discussion until they get bored and wander off again. Diego lingers in the reptiles' section, face all but pressed up against the glass in excitement, and Hot Pants has to drag him away so they can keep up with the rest of the group.
When they're done with the first part of the tour, their guide takes them behind the scenes of the zoo's operations. Johnny's eyes somehow light up more than they already have; Diego, on the other hand, zones out almost immediately and briefly considers asking if he can go back outside. But, he decides not to do anything to break the spell this place has over Johnny They'll each get their own times on this trip, and he'll respect that right now it's a Johnny moment. They don't get to actually handle any of the animals – as expected – but they do get to see them up close.
"In terms of injured animals, we usually only take in threatened to endangered species," the guide says. "Our goal is rehabilitation, with the aim of eventually releasing them back into the wild, but many times this is not possible. I pointed out a few of the recovered animals earlier; if I understand correctly, you're interested in studying them, right?"
Johnny nods, and they once again launch into a conversation that Diego has exactly no interest in. Gyro chimes in occasionally but otherwise lets Johnny guide the discussion as he sees fit.
They finally wrap up around two in the afternoon, when everyone is starving. By this point, no one is really picky about food, and they stop at the first food chain they see. Johnny flips through his notes as they wait for their order to arrive and asks Gyro some clarifying questions, jotting his answers down in the margins. The pages are a mess and nigh impossible to decipher, but apparently he can still read his own handwriting.
"So you want to be a vet?" Hot Pants asks over her half-eaten sandwich. It's the only one out of the four they got that has any sort of vegetable in it. Johnny swallows his mouthful of coffee and sets the cup down.
"Yeah. My family owned a couple of horses when I was a kid, and I really loved them. Taking care of animals would be my dream job. Honestly, they're better than probably ninety percent of people anyway."
"That's an interesting thought," Hot Pants says politely as Diego rolls his eyes from next to her and mouths, edgelord. Johnny pretends not to see and turns his attention back to his lunch.
The rest of the day is less eventful, partially because everyone – with the exception of Hot Pants, who seems to have a limitless store of calm energy – is already exhausted. Gyro's other few stops consist of a variety of pet shops, animal shelters, and veterinary clinics around the area. He finds some sort of lesson in each one, explaining what they're doing right and wrong in terms of their facilities, earning not a few dirty looks from the owners of the establishments.
Hot Pants' final destination is another hiking site, to everyone else no different from most of the surrounding landscape. Gyro and Johnny opt out and instead drive ahead to the nearest town to find a motel within their travel budget that doesn't look too shady. They finally settle on one that still has "colored TV" as a key advertising point. The two of them return to the trailhead to pick up Hot Pants and Diego, who are both dusty and sweaty but beaming triumphantly.
"Look what we found," Diego says excitedly, pulling something out of his pocket. He bounds up to Johnny and shoves it in his face.
"That's a cool… rock?" Johnny says, taking a small step back from Diego's spirited movements.
"No, no. Look at this," Diego says, pointing to a corner of the rock. Johnny squints. There's something vaguely spiral shaped.
"Is it a snail?"
"Some sort of mollusk fossil, yeah," Diego says, putting the rock back into his pocket. "This whole state used to be underwater millions of years ago. We found a couple of shells too, but no fish, unfortunately."
"Yay, mollusks," Johnny says with surprisingly little sarcasm, though also with little enthusiasm. "High five, Diego." They high five, Diego putting too much force into it and almost knocking Johnny over.
The motel rooms are decent. There's two twin beds per room, clean though worn-down bathrooms, and, true to advertisement, colored TVs. They have dinner at the first place that shows up on Google maps when Johnny searches "restaurants," which turns out not to be a bad strategy.
"Breakfast starts at 7:30," Hot Pants announces when they return to the motel. "Since it's Saturday tomorrow, let's aim to be awake and ready to go at ten. There's a couple of theme parks and museums within reasonable driving distance for a day trip, so why don't you two pick somewhere to go?" She directs the last sentence to Johnny and Diego with only the barest hint of apprehension creeping into her voice. They nod.
"Alright, you two are in room 103," Gyro says, handing the key over to Diego and Johnny. It's an actual key, not a keycard, 103 written on the keychain attached to it. "We'll be in 107. Johnny, let's meet in your room to go over what we did today. Diego, you can meet with Hot Pants in 107."
They parts ways for the time being and finish up with work for the day. It's late by the time they're done, but when they reconvene Gyro declares that he and Hot Pants are heading out to the bar and that the two undergrads shouldn't hesitate to call or text if they need anything.
"Should we ask to tag along and use our fakes?" Johnny whispers to Diego as the grad students get ready to leave. Diego makes a face.
"It's too early for that. What if they don't approve?"
Johnny sighs. "I guess you're right. I'm pretty tired anyway."
They return to their room, and Johnny lets Diego shower first to wash off the grime from his hike. When Johnny finishes with his shower, Diego is sprawled out on the bed closer to the door and window, idly flipping through the channels on the old TV. Johnny rests his crutches against the wall and flops down onto the other bed. It's not exactly the most comfortable bed he's ever slept on, comparable to the cheap dorm mattresses, but it's several orders of magnitudes better than yesterday. Diego tosses him the remote, but he doesn't see anything good so he leaves it on a random channel.
"Want to go to the natural history museum tomorrow?" Diego asks as the auctioneer on screen talks way too fast for either of them to follow what's going on.
"What about the wax museum instead?"
"Hell no. Those things are so creepy."
"It won't take the whole day to go to either," Johnny says, tapping on his phone. "Let's go to both places. Look, they're pretty close to each other." He turns the phone to Diego. "We can definitely do both."
"Fine," Diego huffs. "But we're going to the stupid wax museum first then. I don't want to be thinking about those creepy stares when I try to sleep tomorrow night."
"Deal."
They let the TV drone on for a few more minutes as they catch up on emails and chats, then Diego sets his phone down, bundles himself up in his blankets, and rolls around so his back is facing Johnny and the lamp in the far corner.
"Good night, Johnny. Try not to snore too much," comes Diego's muffled voice.
"Yeah, whatever, just hurry up and pass out already so I can finally get some peace and quiet," Johnny replies, not looking up from his phone.
"You know, 'good night' would've been perfectly fine."
"Good night," Johnny says firmly, turning the TV off and stuffing his earbuds into his ears. He pauses, then shuffles shakily over to the lamp and turns it off too.
By midnight, both are sound asleep and softly snoring.
« What're we supposed to do about the two of them? » Gyro asks as Hot Pants takes another drink of her beer. There's some sort of sports game being shown on the TVs in the bar, a good portion of the patrons erupting into cheers or boos every once in a while. They're tucked away in a booth in the corner; the lighting is worse, but at least it's just a little bit quieter.
« I don't know, » Hot Pants sighs. « They're both great students and great guys, but I'm worried they'll get sidetracked by whatever problems they have with each other. I mean, they definitely can get along; we've both seen it happen. But, they keep acting like little kids all the time. » She sets her glass down. « Truth be told, I'm not sure how much longer I can handle mediating their conflict. Definitely not the whole summer at least. Maybe we should come up with a backup plan in case we need to separate them. »
Gyro hums in agreement. « Do you know what happened between them? »
Hot Pants shakes her head. « I tried asking Diego about how they met, but I didn't want to pry too much. They're related somehow, so maybe it's a family issue? »
« It seems like such a pity to split up though, » Gyro mulls. « I really thought they would get along well. Johnny even specifically asked me to see if he could go with Diego for his project, and I had to go talk to the dean to make it happen. I hate that guy. »
« Wait a minute, Diego asked me to arrange for him to go with Johnny. I had to talk to that asshole too. » She taps her fingers on the table in thought, then downs the rest of her drink and stands up to get another round for the two of them.
« Well, I guess we can just see how things go then. »
A/N: Chapter title "Dirty Paws" by Of Monsters and Men.
The first part of the chapter and most of the last chapter were sort of inspired by my house's annual camping trip to Joshua Tree National Park. I drove one year and it was terrible because I got about 4 hours of sleep and then everyone in my car fell asleep and I was like "please I need a navigator." One of the last places to eat before you get into the park is a Del Taco, but my friend really hates Del Taco, so we'd joke about stopping there to get dinner.
I'm able-bodied and did some research and read blog posts by people with disabilities to try my best to write about Johnny's disability as respectfully as I could, but please let me know if I wrote anything ableist.